Can you imagine a place of
total peace and contentment, a place where the storms of the flesh crying out
to be fed are gone or a place where our minds are quiet from the waves of
concern or cares of this life?I believe
that each one of us yearn for such a place because we were made from the heart
of God Who dwells continuously there. I think it’s neat how we have fleeting moments at these places but
it’s usually when we’re losing ourselves in the act of giving to others. God’s
heart is complete when He’s Giving of Himself for Love is only Love while Loving and so being made in His image we find this true even
though we’re still here below. I think that is why we find so much joy in
marriage and caring for those who are in need around our lives.

And, yet even as I write this
I realize that unfortunately there are those who find their fulfillment not in
the act of giving but of getting. Heaven will be a place filled with those who
are givers and not getters and their reward will be greater than all the riches
the world could afford.Satan would have
us think that total contentment is getting what we can for ourselves despite
the needs of those around us, While God’s way is for us to give. The thief who
hung next to Christ and was completing the punishment for his sins, saw Christ
and gave Him Honor. Love in response, gave him life. The other thief gave no
such honor and so received none. It’s truly amazing how just as there is light
and dark within the physical realm, so there is also light and dark within the
spiritual.

Satan tells Christ to bow to
him and He will be blessed and instead Christ tells the Father I’d rather pour
out my life on behalf of the world that You love. The
result of these two opposing natures is that Christ will now live in eternal
contentment and satan is getting all the contentment
he will ever have now. In the same way, our Heavenly Father desires complete
and total contentment for each and every one of us for all eternity but we need
to realize that this life is not where our focus or our hearts should be. The
giving of pleasure within the covenant of marriage is such a blessed gift and
just as our hearts find contentment in this giving, so there is a place of
similar contentment within the spiritual. It seems that when we lose ourselves
in worshipping the Lord, we are actually finding ourselves. Kind of like when
we lose ourselves in loving our spouses or those in need around our lives.

It’s quite amazing the
healing effect that pets have on shut-ins, people who cannot get out and
interact with others. These people who may seem to be all rigid and stiff but
as soon as there is something for them to love and that enjoys their loving
come to life. Why is it that we don’t look more and more at Who we’ve come from
and to whom we’re returning? I visualize that the great gulf or gap that separates
us from the love of God is our pride. In my opinion, pride is just another yet
probably better descriptive word for sin. It’s funny that even though the thief
didn’t say the exact words with his lips “forgive me a sinner”, was actually
saying those exact same words from his heart when he said please remember me
when you enter your Kingdom. We get so hung up on what we can hear or see and
yet God looks upon our hearts; 1 Samuel 16:7 But
the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his
stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth
not as man seeth; for man looketh
on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on
the heart. After all, if we can see it, feel it, smell it, or mentally
comprehend it, then we can have something we can feel proud about.

And so God’s Gift of eternal
Life will be given to those who learn how to walk by Faith and not by sight, to
those who will walk in response to God’s Love by loving as He loved us. Not
those who are trying to do all of the outward actions of Christ without seeing
His Heart;Matthew
25: 31- 46 31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels
with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory.32All the nations will be gathered before
him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates
the sheep from the goats.33He will put
the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34"Then the King will
say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your
inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.
35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave
me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed
clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison
and you came to visit me.' 37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord,
when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to
drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes
and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit
you?'40"The King will reply, 'I
tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of
mine, you did for me.' 41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart
from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and
his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty
and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me
in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and
you did not look after me.' 44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we
see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in
prison, and did not help you?' 45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth,
whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
46"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to
eternal life." Notice the heart of giving in the sheep in verse 37 “when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and
give you something to drink?” and then notice the heart of the getters
in verse 44 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or
thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help
you?'

Did you notice the ‘when did
we’ verses the ‘when did we not?’ The sheep were just doing it as a naturally
response from having been saved by Grace through Faith – they weren’t purposely
trying to work their salvation out by doing these things, they were doing these
things because they were loving others as they themselves were loved. On the
other hand, the goats found a pride in trying to earn their way to heaven
through the outward doing without the inner dying to self-pride. No, their
pride was very much in tact which is why Christ will say I’ve never known you.
Heaven will not be a place where there will be any boasting what so ever save
in Christ’s all out sacrifice and Him alone! Can you imagine the contentment
that comes from just being loved? Not because of what we’ve done, or who we
know or what we’ve learned, but just because He loves us! God’s Gift will be to
those who have learned to lay their pride aside and receive this Precious and
Priceless Gift of His Love. Christ again is our Perfect example Who is our Total Contentment being the Prince of Peace who
said “not my will but Thine be done.” The One who has emptied Himself the most,
now has the highest seat of Honor and Contentment. May we learn from Him that
we too may learn the joy of total contentment of surrendering to such a
Wonderful Savior, Friend and Lord!